science

Nagravision

Nagravision is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nagravision rather than just read about it. In short: Nagravision (or Nagra Kudelski or simply Nagra) is a company of the Kudelski Group that develops conditional access systems for digital cable and satellite television. The name is also used for their main products, the Nagravision encryption systems.

Key takeaways

Nagravision belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nagravision to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nagravision from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nagravision (or Nagra Kudelski or simply Nagra) is a company of the Kudelski Group that develops conditional access systems for digital cable and satellite television. The name is also used for their main products, the Nagravision encryption systems.

Analog system

An analog Nagravision system (Syster) for scrambling analog satellite television programs was used in the 1990s. In this line-shuffling system, bottom 32 lines of the PAL TV signal are shifted in time by one video field, and read out in permuted order under the control of a pseudorandom number generator. A smartcard security microcontroller (in a key-shaped package) decrypts data that is transmitted during the blanking intervals of the TV signal mixed with teletext and extracts the random seed value which contains present line combination needed for reverting the picture back. The system also permitted the audio signal to be modulated at 12.8 kHz using a frequency mixer.

Digital systems

4 currently used versions of Nagravision are in common use for digital satellite television, known as Nagravision, Nagravision Cardmagedon, Nagravision Aladin and Nagravision Merlin. Nagravision Cardmagedon and Aladin are often confused with each other and used under the term "Nagravision 2" which technically does not exist. Nagravision Cardmagedon is, however, a complicated combination of Nagravision Aladin and Mediaguard SECA 2 encryption. Nagravision Merlin is also known as Nagravision 3. The decryption unit is either integrated into a receiver, available as a conditional-access module (CAM), or as one of many encryption schemes supported on a CAM emulator. Nagravision has been adopted all over the world as a conditional access system, with providers:

Bell Satellite TV (Canada) (Nagravision 3) BIG TV (India) Cabovisão (Portugal) (Being adopted gradually across the network - Nagravision 3 and SECA Mediaguard) Canal+ and CanalSat (France) (Nagravision Media Access *NEW TYPE* [Basically Updated Nagra 3 "Merlin"]) Claro TV (Central America, Dominican Republic) (Nagravision 1 (outdated) with MPEG-4 encoding support custom added) Claro TV+ DTH (Brazil) (Nagravision 3) Cyfrowy Polsat (Poland) (Nagravision 3) Digi TV (RCS & RDS) (Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia) (Nagravision 3) MEO (Portugal, Nagravision 3 "Merlin") Movistar+ (Previously Digital+) (Spain, Nagravision 3) Dish Network (USA) (Transition to Nagravision 3 was completed on 6/18/09) Dream Satellite TV (Philippines) (Nagravision 3) First Media (Indonesia) (Nagravision 3) HD+ (Germany) (Nagravision 3) Look Communications (Canada) M7 Group S.A. (Several European countries) Movistar (Before Telefonica) (Chile, Colombia, Perú, Bolivia) (Nagravision 3) Vivo TV DTH (Before Telefonica) (Brazil, Nagravision 3) Numericable (Belgium, France, Luxembourg) (Nagravision 3 "Merlin") Sky Deutschland (Germany) (Nagravision 3) (pre-2014) StarHub TV (Singapore) (Nagravision 3) Star Digital (Turkey) (Nagravision 3) Telenet (Belgium) (Belgium) (Nagravision 2) Tivù Sat, Mediaset Premium (Italy) (Nagravision 3 "Tiger" and "Merlin" (4K)) SAT HD Regional, used exclusively by regional owned-and-operated (O&O) stations and affiliates of TV Globo, Band, SBT, Record and Amazon Sat, alongside national stations Futura and TV Diário; available via TVRO on Star One D2 (70°W) (Brazil, Nagravision 3 'Merlin'). Nova Parabólica on Sky Brazil B1 (43°W) (Brazil, Nagravision 3 'Merlin'). NOS Comunicacoes (Portugal) (Nagravision 3) UPC, now Vodafone (on satellite) (Nagravision 3) Virgin Media (United Kingdom) (Nagravision 3 "Merlin", swapped from Nagravision 1 during 2009/10) Top Up TV (United Kingdom) (Nagravision 3 "Merlin" swapped from SECA2 in 2008)

Illustrations

Nagra Kudelski Group logo

Analog encoded frame in Nagravision Syster with Canal+ logo.The frame is decode-able.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nagravision

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nagravision claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nagravision before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nagravision ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nagravision

In research: Nagravision appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nagravision in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nagravision is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Conditional-access television broadcasting, Digital television, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nagravision outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nagravision in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nagravision means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nagravision out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nagravision in simple terms?

Why does Nagravision matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nagravision?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nagravision.